In general, a secondary battery can be charged and discharged unlike a primary battery and is applied to various fields such as a digital camera, a mobile phone, a notebook, and a hybrid car. Therefore, research into the secondary battery has been actively conducted. An example of the secondary battery may include a nickel-cadmium battery, a nickel-metal hydride battery, a nickel-hydrogen battery, a lithium secondary battery, and the like. Further, a lithium secondary battery having high energy density and a discharge voltage among the secondary batteries has been frequently researched and is prevalently commercialized.
In addition, a secondary battery module includes a plurality of battery cells that are stacked in parallel and electrically connected with each other, in which the battery cells are configured to be accommodated in a case.
However, the secondary battery module has a problem in that overcharging occurs during the charging and discharging process of the battery cells included in the case or a temperature in the cell is instantly increased due to internal short occurrence, and the like, that is caused by a failure of specific cells among the plurality of battery cells to generate contaminated air, such that the contaminated air may be leaked to the outside of the case of the secondary battery module and introduced into a vehicle.
Further, the case in which the battery cells are accommodated may be formed to be sealed in order to discharge the contaminated air generated from the battery cell to a specific portion, but a cooling part for cooling heat generated at the time of charging and discharging the battery cell is required, and therefore it is difficult to seal the battery cells.
As the related art, US Patent Laid-Open Publication (20110027632) discloses “battery pack and vehicle with the battery pack”.